US lawyer arrested over Madrid blasts

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A Portland, Oregon, lawyer held for questioning about a possible link to the train bombings in Madrid had not been charged with a crime, his brother said on Friday. But the family had not been given further details.

Spanish police sources on Friday said fingerprints on a shopping bag containing detonators found outside a station where the bombers apparently boarded the trains matched those of lawyer and Muslim convert Brandon Mayfield, 37, who was arrested as a material witness by federal agents in Portland on Thursday.

"We are hoping to file a motion to have the case thrown out for lack of evidence," Mr Mayfield's brother, Kent, told Reuters.

He said Mr Mayfield's family does not know where he is and has not been allowed to talk to him since his arrest. As a material witness, he can be held indefinitely, as have others suspected of links to terrorists in recent years.

Kent Mayfield said he had been told that officials were still trying to determine which public defender would represent his brother, a former US Army officer who lives with his Egyptian wife and their three children in a modest Portland home.

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If charged, Brandon Mayfield would be the first American implicated in the March 11 Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people and wounded 1900.

Spanish officials have blamed Islamic militants seeking to punish Spain for sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Fifteen people have been charged, including 13 Moroccans.

Kent Mayfield said his brother was innocent, "too poor" to have travelled to Spain or anywhere overseas and had been targeted because of his conversion to Islam and his criticism of the Bush Administration's foreign policy.

"He's a good and honest man and I'm terrified for him," Mr Mayfield said.

"I have a lot of mistrust in the legal process. They are destroying innocent people's lives."

Brandon Mayfield's wife, Mona, said on Thursday, "My husband is a good man. He's a good husband. He's a good father."